But in retrospect, the game wasn’t that close, because the Revs (6-5-6) dominated play virtually from the opening seconds until the final whistle.

New England keeper Bobby Shuttleworth only had to make two saves for his eighth shutout, while Jon Busch was forced to make nine – including several testers – for San Jose (5-9-6).

Even more important was that by earning three points, the victory validated the point New England earned in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Chivas USA.

“(Coach) Jay (Heaps) made that point before the game, saying let’s make our efforts at Chivas worth it,” said Revs midfielder Chris Tierney. “That was a tough road trip. We got a hard-fought point.

“At this point, taking three at home is crucial every time we play at home, so we’re happy with the result.”

The result was important because entering the game New England was tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference – two points out of the conference’s final playoff berth.

Equally important was that the Revs scored first and led 1-0 at intermission.

The sequence began with Saer Sene lining a shot from inside the box that was blocked by Busch, but went directly to Tierney.

Tierney passed to Lee Nguyen, who found Sene alone outside the box for a 25-yard rocket into the upper-left corner in the 13th minute.

“Obviously getting the early goal really helps you,” Tierney said. “I feel that statistics in this league show that whoever scores the first goal wins the game more often than not.

“It was really crucial for us that Saer made a great play.”

Heaps made what proved to be a key substitution when he inserted Dimitry Imbongo for Chad Barrett in the 67th minute.

Two minutes later, Kelyn Rowe settled the ball near the right sideline and passed to Nguyen, who was cutting toward the box.

Nguyen led Imbongo, who slid and pushed the ball past Busch.

“It was really more for the energy,” Heaps said of playing Imbongo. “To be fair, Chad is probably our best finisher when we do flat-out, clinical finishing in training. But the competition is great.

“With Juan Agudelo being sidelined for a little bit and having guys like Chad and Imbongo fight for a spot, it’s great,” Heaps said. “This week those guys stepped up to the plate and did a nice job. But we have a good competition going on. Every week in training does matter. I’ve said from the beginning that I want to see these guys really compete for playing time.”